New downtown Las Vegas comedy club to feature Pauly Shore’s face

Shore on Main has a good ring to it. So does Wiseguys Comedy Club, where in a couple of months you might find Shore on Main.

Pauly Shore is the comic subject here, and Wiseguys is the new comedy club in the Arts District bearing his image. The venue is set to open by late May or early June, if all goes according to plan. Wiseguys is set up at 1511 S. Main St., across from Able Baker Brewing.

The Wiseguys club is owned by company founder (and veteran stand-up comic) Keith Stubbs, who opened his first comedy haven in Salt Lake City in 2001. Stubbs has since launched outposts in Ogden and Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Utah.

Stubbs is to appear before the Las Vegas Planning Commission on Tuesday night to apply for a special use permit to operate the club within city limits.

The permit application specifies the business will be for ages 21 and over, with a full bar and a limited food menu. Among the requirements for approval is for the 4,300-square-foot venue (with a 950-square-foot outdoor seating area) to provide live entertainment at least twice a week.

Shore can certainly be of assistance there. A Las Vegas resident since August, the comic has headlined several times at Stubbs’ Utah clubs over the years, including a stint at Jordan Landing from Feb. 18-20.

The stand-up headliner and comic actor also is a member of entertainment royalty, of course. Shore’s mother, the late club operator Mitzi Shore, turned the Comedy Store in Hollywood into a legendary comedy haven. His father, Sammy Shore, opened for Elvis at the International and was a beloved stand-up in Vegas and on tour up until his death in May 2019.

“This is a place that will appeal to locals, and to give something back to downtown,” Shore said Monday. “It’s for people who live here, who don’t want to go to a comedy show in a casino.”

Having spent most of his life hanging around and headlining in comedy clubs, Shore extols Wiseguys’ classic vibe.

“You walk in and you feel like you could be in a club in Peoria or Rockford, Illinois,” Shore said. “You look at it and it’s like, ‘Holy hell, this is a comedy club.’ The ceilings are low, it has about 180 seats, and it’s a great building and great for comedy.”

Shore is not a formal partner in the project, however, keeping his involvement as performer and club proponent. He and Stubbs began talking of a Wiseguys outpost in Vegas soon after Shore moved to town.

The talks intensified in late fall, with Stubbs landing on the vacant Main Street property co-owned by Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel and Tao Group managing partner Jason Strauss under the Corner of Main Street LLC.

“We wanted something that would appeal to locals and saw a good opportunity and decided to go for it,” Stubbs said during a phone chat Sunday. “Our original plan was to be open by May, and we might meet that goal. We hopefully will be open in the next 60 days.”

The format is to be determined, but expect multiple experienced comics along with an emcee. As for Shore, he’s keeping his performance options open, even as he is a supporter of Wiseguys (and has his face painted on its very building).

Shore also is reviving his one-man show, a storytelling project in which he returns to his childhood and spins tales about the famous people he has met along the way. Shore likens his autobiographical production to “Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth,” which has sold out Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at the MGM Grand.

Whether that show plays Wiseguys, too, is left to the future.

“I can’t say how often I’ll be there. I have two things going right now, the regular stand-up and my one-man show,” Shore said. “But I like Keith, I like his brand and this club just feels great.”

The scene and Heard

Wednesday night, the Italian American Club is hosting the off-Strip show linked to the Righteous Brothers at Harrah’s, and to Barry Manilow’s residency at Westgate. We speak of Righteous Brother (and righteous person) Bucky Heard and guitar master John Wedemeyer, with Manilow’s music director, Joey Melotti, guest-starring on keys. Dinner at 6:30 p.m., three-man-music action at 8.

This is the latest in the Heard-Wedemeyer “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” series. Expect Manilow’s “I Write the Songs” to join “Something” by the Beatles, “These Eyes” by the Guess Who, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel, and “Just Once” by James Ingram.

The IAC room is poppin’ these days, as the kids say. On Sunday night it was “Timeless,” featuring Gabriella Versace as Barbra Streisand and Elisa Furr as Celine Dion in a bold and beautiful, double-headlining tribute. Find all the IAC intel at iac.com.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.